Nightingales: Blood Prey
Nightingales: Blood Prey was one of the eight haunted houses that were featured during Halloween Horror Nights 21. It was located in Soundstage 23 along with The Thing. History and Location In 2011, Universal decided to build a haunted house set in the trenches during World War I. Universal would create creatures called Nightingales that would feed on sick and dying soldiers in the war. They had the ability to shapeshift, and they would disguise themselves as field nurses. In 2011, every house tied into a story relating to a choice a character had to make (influenced by Lady Luck). This house's story was the Edmond Clarke, a man who was given the choice of joining the war or staying at home. He eventually joined the war because of a propaganda poster (Lady Luck in disguise) telling him to join. He would later see the Nightingales feasting on his friend and would soon die due to battle wounds. The house would be one of two located in Soundstage 23, the other one being The Thing. Soundstage 23 is one of the larger soundstage facilities designed to be used as filming locations for movies and television shows. These two houses would be the last two to be featured in this location. In 2015, the house received a tribute scene in the Jack Presents: 25 Years of Monsters & Mayhem haunted house. Four years later in 2019, the house received a prequel based on Roman Gladiators titled Nightingales: Blood Pit. Description The Nightingales are creatures that have existed since time began immemorial, feeding on the weak, ill, and dying in wars and natural disasters. Patrolling WWI era trenches, you discover that you are more than just at war…you’re being hunted. Experience Guest immediately enter one of the myriad trenches crossing the Western Front, with a British Mark IV tank stuck in its attempt to cross the trench. A nurse with inhumanly large teeth, a Nightingale, is perched on the top of the trench, eating a corpse. As you pass under the tank, you see that it's been destroyed: the underside of the tank has been ripped open, allowing a dead crewman to hang upside-down from it. In the next room, a soldier appears from a nearby alcove and fires his M1911 handgun at a Nightingale to drive it away. Another soldier, a piece of shrapnel stabbed through the lens of his gas mask, reaches for help. Returning to the trench, a soldier is seen standing guard with a Thompson several yards away. As you get closer, a Nightingale suddenly appears behind him and rips his upper torso off of his legs, spraying blood as he fires his gun wildly. In the field hospital, the wounded and dead lie in their bunks, creating a confined and claustrophobic space. Several Nightingales are hidden amongst the beds. In the surgery room, a Nightingale eats a corpse as it coughs up blood. An artillery shell suddenly lands outside, creating a massive boom as lights flash through the window. Continuing into the next room, where the bodies of the dead have been literally piled for burial, a Nightingale goes wild and crawls amongst the dead. In the adjoining rec tent, a Fokker biplane has crashed outside, one of the wings tearing through the fabric. Shifting lights create the silhouette of bodies impaled on debris outside the tent. A Nightingale cradles the decapitated body of a soldier on his cot as a record player gives a macabre accompaniment to the sounds of war. Returning to the trench, pinpoints of light flash on sides of the trench as machine gun rounds impact nearby. Passing by a boarded-up storage alcove, machine guns suddenly begin firing nearby, the muzzle flash illuminating a pair of attacking Nightingales. Fleeing, you see a Nightingale feasting on a horse above the trench, squirting blood. As you enter the final section of trench, a Nightingale flies overhead as another reaches for you through a collapsed section. A machine gunner (manning a compressed air replica of a Browning M1919), fires his handgun at the flying Nightingale before jumping on his gun and firing through the line to reach the one at ground level. Scareactors * Flying Nightingale * Soldier (x2) * Dead body room Nightingale (x2) * Gas mask soldier * Nightingales (x4) Trivia * A scene from this house was featured in Jack Presents: 25 Years of Monsters & Mayhem. * This is the last house featured in Soundstage 23 along with The Thing. Links *Video from Universal previewing the maze Category:Halloween Horror Nights Orlando Haunted Houses Category:Soundstage 23 Category:Original Houses Category:Halloween Horror Nights 21 Category:Halloween Horror Nights Orlando